mitchsasha Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Has anyone applied to the PhD program at OISE? Got any news?
CKimberly Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 Hi! I applied to the SESE PhD program within OISE. No news yet - (somewhat) patiently waiting. Thanks for starting this topic!
chienkerwei Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 Hi CKimberly! I am also totally on the same boat with you. I am an applicant of SESE for the PhD program from Taiwan. Did you try to contact any faculty members in OISE? I did but the response seems neutral. All the best in the application process
mitchsasha Posted February 20, 2012 Author Posted February 20, 2012 Hi CKimberly! I am also totally on the same boat with you. I am an applicant of SESE for the PhD program from Taiwan. Did you try to contact any faculty members in OISE? I did but the response seems neutral. All the best in the application process @chienkerwei Hi! What response did the faculty members give you? The info would be useful for those who are applying to OISE. Thanks.
chienkerwei Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 Hi mitchsasha. I just sent a email with my statement of intent to a professor I am interested in, to ask if I could work with him. He only said my research is interesting and "all the best in the application process." Probably he isn't really interested in me. But I do not know if contact a potential supervisor in advance is necessary.
CKimberly Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) I applied to SESE but with the collaborative program in CIDE. I did have some email communication with a professor. She gave me some tips on my application, statement of intent and collaborative program options. However, this was all back in the Fall and my MA is not in education...so we will see how it all plays out! OISE is a bit of a long shot for me! Good luck everyone - hopefully we hear soon Edited February 20, 2012 by CKimberly
chienkerwei Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 I think OISE is known as an institute open to interdisciplinary background, so don't worry. Would you please share what the tips are with us? Thank you:)
mitchsasha Posted February 20, 2012 Author Posted February 20, 2012 I think it's a good idea to make initial contact with the faculty to see what they expect in a candidate. The competition as far as I was told is very keen at OISE, though. Good luck everyone!
ltam Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I am currently an MA student in SESE who applied elsewhere for phd as i've been at U of T for my first two degrees. The competition for all PhD programs at OISE is fierce and even with previous communication, and even experience with faculty in the department, many things are weighed. Not to discourage any applicants but the admit pool is usually quite small. Much is based on who is on the committee from year to year and who or how many faculty strongly advocate for you as they rank applicants. Strong fit with faculty research interests is key but that doesn't necessarily require a background in education. Though some form of experience working in education os required to be eligible.
ltam Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 SESE has a very interdisciplinary approach. They've also just merged with history and philosophy in education so that's more relevant than ever. Granted the merger is due unfortunately to grad departments at OISE that don't make money (i.e. not the b.ed's, m.ed's) being marginalized and receiving less and less funding.
mitchsasha Posted February 22, 2012 Author Posted February 22, 2012 @ ltam Thanks so much for the insider information. Do you know approximately how many PhD students they take in each year?
chienkerwei Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks you itam for your info. Is the PhD program at OISE so competitive because they can't offer too many positions with funding? Does it help if I earn a funding my self? Thank you
CKimberly Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 I think OISE is known as an institute open to interdisciplinary background, so don't worry. Would you please share what the tips are with us? Thank you:) Nothing too novel...She said to include her name in my research statement on the online application, as well as in my Statement of Intent. She also said that fully-funded PhD spots are very competitive (as well all know) but that a strong Statement of Intent and good fit would make all the difference. Has anyone heard anything about timeline/when decisions will be made?
mitchsasha Posted February 25, 2012 Author Posted February 25, 2012 It's now the end of the third week of February and I still hear nothing. Has anyone been contacted for anything related to their application? The wait is killing me
mitchsasha Posted March 2, 2012 Author Posted March 2, 2012 Got accepted to the Ph.D. program in SLE via phone. Official acceptance letter will come in late March. Full funding for 4 years. So excited! Good luck to other applicants with their applications to UofT.
CKimberly Posted March 2, 2012 Posted March 2, 2012 Congrats! That's great! Out of curiousity, did your POI call you?
mitchsasha Posted March 3, 2012 Author Posted March 3, 2012 Thanks CKimberly. The GS student coordinator called. Best of luck with your application!
wheatGrass Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 Wow! Can't believe you heard so soon. Congrats. I've heard that we have to wait until the end of March (for SESE and CTL, at least). Mitchsasha, you don't really need this info anymore, but I'll post in case anyone else has similar questions. I had a few email exchanges with various profs at CTL and the current SESE, soon to be something else. One looked over my statement of intent and offered some valuable suggestions, and then we met for coffee a couple of weeks later. From these conversations, I gleaned that for CTL and SESE you pretty much need to have a faculty member advocating for your application, and that each faculty member was 'allowed' only one (or in special cases, two) new students. Not that you are stuck with that faculty member for your whole degree, but that's how the admissions process works. And if you have your own funding, i.e. the big SSHRC, I think they can let you in as a flex-time student, which they have additional spots for. Not 100% sure about this, though. She suggested I write more than I had about why I wanted to work with certain profs, but she said it was a very strong letter. Anyway, it was a good conversation, too, so I hope it was enough to get me in! Now, I'm curious to know if anyone knows when we can expect to hear from York?
mitchsasha Posted March 4, 2012 Author Posted March 4, 2012 You're right, wheatGrass. In addition to having a prof advocating for your application and a very strong statement of intent, you also need strong references. Of course, your research interests have to be in line with those of your POI's.
CKimberly Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 Anyone else have any OISE news? I heard back from UWO's PhD program today and I have a few weeks to decide but I would really like to hear back from OISE first....
chienkerwei Posted March 10, 2012 Posted March 10, 2012 congrat! mitchsasha! I heard nothing from OISE. As an international applicant, I guess i will get the result via post, instead of phone, in late March or early April probably. If I have a funding from my country but apply the full-time PhD program, will they automatically transfer my application to the flex-time? All I want is an admission whatever it is. LOL
mitchsasha Posted March 11, 2012 Author Posted March 11, 2012 Thanks chienkerwei! Hope you hear back soon.
wheatGrass Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Hi, I haven't heard anything, although I did just get an invitation to the Dean's Graduate student research conference addressed "Dear Students..." Could this be a sign? Did everyone who applied get this email? Probably.
chienkerwei Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 I don't know if it is a sign, but I didn't get it. Are you applying to SESE or CTL? anyway, good for you
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